Marriott International has reported first quarter net income of $375 million, an 11 per cent decrease from the result seen last year.

First quarter adjusted net income totalled $482 million, a one per cent decrease from prior year adjusted results.

However, adjusted EBITDA totalled $821 million in the quarter, a seven per cent increase over the first quarter of 2018.

Arne Sorenson, president and chief executive officer of Marriott International, said: “Marriott’s performance in the first quarter was solid. 

“Worldwide systemwide RevPAR for comparable hotels increased 1.1 per cent, net rooms grew 5.3 per cent, and gross fee revenue rose six per cent.

“Despite modest RevPAR growth and higher labour costs, we increased North American house profit margins by 30 basis points and held worldwide house profit margins flat at our company-operated hotels through cost synergies, leading to strong incentive management fee performance in the quarter. 

Marriott’s worldwide RevPAR rose 1.1 per cent in the quarter, driven by a 1.5 per cent increase in room rates.

The company raised its full-year 2019 adjusted profit forecast in the range of $5.97 per share to $6.19 per share, from a previous forecast of $5.87 per share to $6.10 per share, partly due to a lower effective tax rate.

The company added nearly 19,000 rooms during the first quarter, including roughly 3,000 rooms converted from competitor brands and approximately 8,000 rooms in international markets.

At quarter-end, Marriott’s worldwide development pipeline totalled nearly 2,900 hotels and approximately 475,000 rooms, including roughly 25,000 rooms approved, but not yet subject to signed contracts.